


pda: private displays of affection

by trippingtozier



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, THEYRE SO SOFT-, can you tell i'm here for this beautiful ship?, friends to boyfriends, i'm not crying-, this is probably really bad but who cares???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 10:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16616927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trippingtozier/pseuds/trippingtozier
Summary: Eddie doesn't believe Richie when he tells him he loves him.I mean, c'mon! This is Richie we're talking about! The guy's a notorious joker!





	pda: private displays of affection

**Author's Note:**

> Inquiring minds want to know if it's too early to make a Christmas fanfiction

“Very funny,” the laugh is sardonic and mirthless. “Good one, Rich.”

Eddie doesn’t look up at him; he just keeps flipping through the pages of a comic book as though he’s looking for the place he left off, but Richie knows that he’s read this copy cover to cover. His cheeks are tinted red and his clothes are rumpled. The afternoon light, warm and soft, hits his face in a way that’s mesmerizing. Richie can’t look away. He opens his mouth to continue where he left off- to insist that he’s serious, he really isn’t making a joke for once in his life- but the Trashmouth is speechless.

He lets it drop, even though he knows there’s so much more he needs to say.

 

“Really, Rich? The same joke? Less funny the second time,” Eddie snaps, rolling his eyes. He’s on his back, head propped up by a couch cushion strewn around Bill’s living room. The light from the TV casts a glow upon Eddie’s face that has Richie transfixed.

“Eds,” Richie starts. He scoots closer to Eddie, and grabs for his arm. “I wouldn’t joke about this!”

“Sure. Uh-huh.”

“You’ve gotta believe me!” From his perch in an armchair, Stan shushes Richie and pegs a piece of popcorn at his head.

Eddie pulls his arm out of Richie’s grasp and directs his attention towards the movie. “Like I said, not any funnier the second time around.”

Richie gulps down his protests and stays silent the rest of the night.

 

“It’s not a joke!” Richie hisses the words so no one else will hear. Eddie shifts himself away from Richie, pretending to be engrossed in his living environment textbook. “I’m not- I’m not trying to joke with you, Spaghetti. This is one of those rare occasions where I’m dead serious.”

“Yeah, right,” Eddie scoffs in reply. “Like you were so serious about Betty? About Greta? Briefly about Bev? About literally _everyone_ else you’ve ever had a crush on?”

Richie lets out a frustrated groan, and smacks his head down on the library table next to Eddie’s backpack. Ben and the librarian look over at him at the same time, both wearing a disapproving grimace. “Eds, I promise you, it’s not like that with you.”

“Don’t screw this up, Richie,” Eddie barks out an exasperated laugh. “You make it so hard to be your friend sometimes.”

Richie leaves the library.

 

“Is this ‘cuz you haven’t come out yet? Because I’ve already taken that into account.”

“Oh, have you?” Eddie manages to make his voice bored, empty. He’s supposed to be reading a novel for English, but Richie knows he hasn’t turned the page in almost fifteen minutes.

“I just wanna know why,” the words come out sounding like he’s going to cry. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but I just want to know why you’re so hellbent on not believing that I love you. Is it a gay thing, or a me thing, or a you thing..?”

“I think ‘a gay thing’ would fall under the category of a me thing,” Eddie replies.

“Sure, yeah.”

Eddie sighs, and sets his book down. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” He draws his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around his legs. “I don’t want my mom to find out that I’m gay yet.”

“I know, and I’ll respect it.”

“Really?”

“Really. PDA will now be known as Private Displays of Affection.” Richie holds up three fingers in a salute, “Scout’s honor.”

“So when you go to kiss my cheeks, or hold my hand and I want nothing to do with you, you’re not gonna act like I’ve wounded your baby soft ego?”

“It’s gonna take some adjusting, and a lot of ‘beep beep’s, but I’m prepared for that,” Richie pauses. “I want to be with you, Eds, more than anything. I want to tell you I love you, and be able to hug you, and call you cute. It’s really not that different from what I do now.”

“So why change it?”

“I…” Richie shrugs. He stares at Eddie, and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Uh, I guess, to quote the Pointer Sisters…”

Eddie snorts. “Please don’t”

Richie grins, encouraged by Eddie’s response. “I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you. I want to squeeze you, please you. I just can't get enough,” he half sings-half speaks. “That’s a big part of it. Eventually, I want to walk through school holding your hand. And I want to take you to all the shitty dances, and out to dinner, and the movies. And maybe, if I ever decide to grow a pair, I’d like to kiss you.”

Eddie blushes, a slow smile spreading across his face. “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah?”

He nods. “I have no idea how to do this.”

“Can we at least try?”

“Duh.”

“You’re really okay with this?”

“I am.” Eddie’s voice is soft, but firm. “I’m just scared as hell. You’re not messing with me, right?”

Richie rolls his eyes. “All of this, and you still don’t believe me?”

“I dunno.”

He scoots closer to Eddie, and holds his hand out. He waits until Eddie takes his hand to speak again. “Can i kiss you?”

The apples of Eddie’s cheeks flush bright red. “Yeah?”

Richie raises his free hand to cup Eddie’s fiery cheek and draw him closer, tilts his head until they’re inches apart. He stays like that for a few moments. “You’re a whole lot prettier to look at than your mom,” he murmurs.

“Richard Tozier, I swear to god-!”

He muffles the rest of Eddie’s curses by closing the gap between them. The kiss is sweet and feather soft.

They pull apart at the same time, but don’t go far.

“You’re a menace.” Eddie leans forward again.

“You say that, but I’m _your_ menace,” Richie counters as he meets Eddie halfway.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is the best thing a writer can get :)))


End file.
